Build and Launch | Modernizing RHEL Management 02

Episode two is nothing but demo, and I love that. John used the image builder service to define a custom RHEL image, connected it to an AWS source, and launched two systems that registered themselves the moment they came up. The image we build here shows up in a lot of later episodes, so the packages and choices we make today matter down the road.

A few things worth carrying away from this one:

• A source plus an activation key unlocks the good stuff. Once John connected the AWS source, we got gold images, high-precision subscription usage, and auto-registration through both subscription manager and Insights without any manual steps.
• Preview mode is worth turning on in dev. I encouraged folks to flip it on in test environments, use the newer features, and tap the feedback button. That feedback actually creates a Jira the product team scrubs, so it genuinely shapes the roadmap.
• Think about everything this replaces. Watching two systems spin up in a couple of clicks, I could not help remembering jump drives, Kickstart files, and running the same graphical installer over and over. And it is all backed by APIs, so you can automate the whole thing.

It looked simple, and that was the goal. We did something fairly involved in about twenty minutes.